Apparatus for manufacturing wire rope



June 3, 1930. J. LAUBENTHAL APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING WIRE ROPE Filedbasis, was 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 June 3, 1930. JALAUBENTHAL ,7 ,4

APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING WIRE ROPE Fi led Dec. 9. 1926 2Sheets-Sheet. 2

J rfLubeni m/ Patented June 3, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JOHANNLAUIBENTKAL, OF COLOGNE-MULKEIM, GERMAN Y, ASSIGNOR T FELTEH 8cGUILLEAUMIE CARLSWEBK ACTIEN-GESELLSCIQIAFT, OF COLOGNE-MULHEIM, GER-MANY I APPARATUS FdR MANUFACTURING WIRE ROBE Application filed December9, 1926, Serial No. 153,675, and in Germany May 8 1, 1926.

J In the manufacture of strands or ropes the individual wires are woundtogether hehbeen made in order to prevent'or eliminate the springingback of the helically bent wire.

For instance, it has been proposed to Wind the Wires forming the'r-opeindividually in a separate machine around the core in the manner of ahelical spring and then lay the wires thus treated in the actualstrandmg machine to form a wire rope. Quite apart from the fact thatthis method is very complicated owing to the separate treatment of. eachindividual wire, the method is not, suitable for preventing internalstresses in the individual wires, since no means are provided forpreventing twisting of the wire around its axis. It has further beenproposed to cause the wires before being braided or, laid to passthrough a former by which is imparted to them in advance the helicalline or pitch which they are to have in the finished strand or rope. Inthis former the wires are bent in such a manner that thein-tendency tospring back is eliminated.

As a former for this purposeit has beenproposed to use a sleeve having ahelical groove through which the wire is forced for imparting to it thedesired helical form. This however, subjects the Wire while being bentto considerable friction, causing damage to the wire and a reduction ofits tensile strength and great wear on the bending device and alsoentails an increase in the power' A further disadvantage is that thisarrangement can only be used with advantage in machines in which thebobbins are arranged one behind the other, as only in such machinesthere is no appreciable twisting of the wires preliminarily formed inthis manner. '7

Fig.1 shows-the device-intended for pre bending wires before they arestranded into the wire rope, which device is provided on the strandingdrum.

Fig. 2 shows a representation of one single prcbending member of thepreliminary bending head according to Fig. 1.

Fig. 8 shows a stranding machine with the lprebending device provided onthe stranding ead.

The present invention relates to an apparatus, which overcomes thesedrawbacks.

As will be seen from F ig; 1' on the laying headstock a of the ropelaying machine ahead I) is provided, between the two discs 0 and e ofwhich there are providedguiding rods which are symmetrical with respectto the axis of the machine and inclined towards the front and aroundwhich the wires are preliminarily bent before being laid. The wires dcoming from the bobbins arefirst guided through nuts 0 and then aroundinclined guiding bars f in the interior of the head I), b which meansthey are bent to the re uired elical form.

ig. 2 is a detailed figure showing this operation. The distance betweenthe front disc 6 and the rear disc 6' can be varied, by the bolts h andthe guiding rods 7 being exchanged for shorter or longer ones. By thismeans the helical form of the wires or thein pitch may be made longer orshorter as required. The nuts c are rotatably mounted in the insertiondisc c. As will. be seen from Figure 2, each nut is provided, inaddition to the hole for the guiding rod passing through the centre,with an eccentric hole for the insertion of the wire a". By means of ascrew provided at z' the nuts can be adjusted.

They are provided for the purpose of preventing the wires beingprematurely laid and for introducing'them smoothly into the bending head6.

ings in the front disc e and, owing to their helical shape, immediatelydrop around the rope core 9 of hemp or wire into the rope less than inthe known kinds of preliminary form k. The laying operation is effectedby the laying headstock a and with it the bobbins and the head I)revolve about the axis of the rope or about the rope core g. In thestranding machine shown diagrammatically in Fig. 3, the reels b fromwhich the wires cl are drawn ofl' are rotatably mounted in the strandingdrum 3 These reels will always maintain theirivertical position by meansof the planet Wheel gearing 2 when the stranding drum rotates". In thisway a rotation opposite to the direction of movement of the strandingdrum is imparted to the bobbins of the stranding drum for the purpose ofavoidingthe twisting of the wires, so that the wires do not experienceany axial twisting during stranding. a represents the strandingheadprovided on the stranding drum, on which head is secured theprebending device b. It represents the.

stranded wire rope in the finished state. The wire ropes made in thisway irom preliminarily bent wires free from stresses are .completelyfree from twist, in other words,

the wires do not seek to turn in the reverse direction and do not springout of place and the finished rope does not warp or become kinked.

This apparatus is extremely simple and, since it isnadjustable, may beused for various pitches and thicknesses of wire. Owing to the frictionbeing so slight, the wires are not unduly worn and the power required isformers.

What I claim is:

1. A device for prebending rope Wires in the helical form which theypossess in the completed strand or rope without any twisting around theaxes of the wires, comprising a prebending head (5) having two discs (6and e) and smooth guiding rods (f) which are disposed between the saiddiscs and are inclined symmetrically around the axis of the devicetowards the stranding point, around which rods the wires are intended tobe bent whilst passing into the helical form.

2. A device for prebending rope wires as claimed in claim 1, in whichthe disc (6') of the prebending head has rotatable nuts (0) capable ofallowing the wires to be inserted into the prebending head and ofguiding them therein.

3. A device for prebcnding rope wires as claimed in claim 1,characterized by this that the prebending head is adjustable iii-thelongitudinal direction by exchanging the. guide rods (f) and bolts (h)for rods and bolts of different length.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

J OHANN LAUBENTHAL.

